Business owners object to Kirkcaldy Street brothel plans

A development application (DA) was lodged last month seeking consent to build the sex services premises on a vacant lot at 8 Kirkcaldy Street.

If approved as proposed, the business would operate 24/7 and have up to 10 sex workers on site at all times.

Business owners have banded together to object to the plans, which they say will have a significant impact on everyone in the street.

READ ALSO: Bathurst councillors prepared to support Kirkcaldy Street brothel plans

Adam Copes, who owns Adam Copes Mechanical alongside his wife Ainsley, said he was shocked when the plans came to light.

A concern that he shares with many businesses owners is the security of the area after a brothel is established.

The Crime Risk Assessment submitted with the DA acknowledges that "there is potential for increased crime or anti-social behaviour at the premises".

While the document refers to measures that will mitigate the risk of crime, such as the security fence and closed-circuit television, business owners don't feel the measures will be enough.

Owner of Town and Country Rural Supplies, Vicki Wilson, said Kirkcaldy Street businesses have experienced break-ins in the past and there is concern that will become a more common occurrence.

"At the end of the day, I just don't think this is the right place a building like that should be," she said.

The brothel also has the potential to drive customers away from long-established businesses, as Mr Copes has learnt from speaking to some of his customers.

"We've already made phone calls and asked quite a few of our customers, we've quite a large clientele, and, to be honest, a lot of them are actually quite against it for personal reasons and a few of them have stated that they won't be bringing stuff down here, because they don't even want to be in same street as it," he said.

"It will have a detrimental effect on our business."

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But their objection isn't just about business, it's about concern for the children who frequent Kirkcaldy Street.

Business owners not only bring their own children to their premises regularly, but they also offer work experience and employment opportunities to people who are underage.

"You're not allowed in a brothel unless you're over 18 and these kids are going to be right next door to it. The windows will be right there, the ventilation in the plan is supposedly with the windows open, so the sounds will be coming out onto our premises," Mrs Copes said.

Ben and Sally Willis, owners of Ausrover, also worry about their young children.

"I work in the business and bring our kids there. I don't want that kind of business around," Mrs Willis said.

"... Our employee who works in the office, she brings her children in sometimes as well. Starting our business and operating it as a family, that was always part of our picture, having us operate it together and the kids with us.

"It's not just the business owners and staff who bring their children in, it's the customers, school work experience, which we offer."

The couple moved their business from Kelso to Kirkcaldy Street less than 12 months ago and, if they knew a brothel could set up next door, Mrs Willis said they "wouldn't have bought it".

"And we're also looking at buying the one next to us and, with the news of the brothel possibly going in, it's making us have second thoughts," Mr Willis said.

Council has already received numerous submissions about the controversial DA, but there is no word yet when it will be determined.

Resident Brian Pleash was "disgusted" to learn of plans for a brothel directly opposite his property, which now has him concerned about the safety of the street he has called home for 30 years.

He and his wife had come to Bathurst from Sydney and are well aware of the issues that can arise from sex premises, including increased traffic and criminal activity.

"For 30 years we've had no trouble in the street at all and everybody gets on so well together; we're just afraid of the type of people it is going to bring into the street," he said.

Mr Pleash doesn't object to the operation of brothels, but believes Kirkcaldy Street is the wrong place for one to be established in Bathurst.

Along with business owners, he has called on council to "take notice" of locals' concerns when it considers approving the plans.

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